Combined necklace and wristband including loop shortening means



Dec. 2, 1969 R. E. COOK 3,481,155

COMBINED NECKLACE AND WRISTBAND INCLUDING LOOP SHORTENING MEANS Filed Oct. 18, 1966 Rober'l' E.Cook

INVENTOR United States Patent 3,481,155 COMBINED NECKLACE AND WRISTBAND INCLUDING LOOP SHORTENING MEANS Robert E. Cook, 1050 Frederick St., Venice, Calif. 90291 Filed Oct. 18, 1966, Ser. No. 587,505 Int. Cl. A44c 25/00, /00; F16g /00 US. Cl. 63-2 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention generally appertains to improvements in articles of jewelry for women and more particularly relates to a novel combination necklace and bracelet and also to novel improvements in bracelet constructions in structural association with replaceable ornaments of various natures, both from design or ornamental appearance and from a structural standpoint.

An important object of the present invention is to provide means, which is of a very simple yet effective and efficient nature, for structural association with a chain, whereby the length of the chain can be easily and positively adjusted so as to permit a necklace to be adjusted to suit the wearer, with the ornamental front portion of the necklace being positionable at the neck of a wearer, by virtue of the adjustment of the necklace, thereby realizing a long or a short necklace or one of medium length.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide an extremely simple, small and inexpensive device which is adapted to frictionally receive and engage the sections of a chain or the like so as to positively control the extent of the looped portion of the chain or the like, that is the portion from the back of the neck to the front of the neck of a wearer, whereby an ornamental device or the like carried by the chain at the front of the neck can be disposed at any selected distance whereby it will hang a long or a short or a medium distance.

A further important object of the present invention is to provide a very small, inexpensive and simple means which slidably engages the chain sections and serves to adjust the length of the chain neckpiece while keeping the sections straight and preventing the chain sections from becoming entangled.

A further important object of the present invention is to provide means whereby a necklace may be easily converted into use as a bracelet that may be worn at the Wrist or higher up on the arm without any inconvenience to the wearer and which is so adjustable that it can be worn at any portion of the arm and, once assuming a set position at the wrist or any portion of the arm will maintain such position.

A still further important object of the present invention is to provide extremely simple, positive and elfective means for adjusting the length of a chain necklace or necklace of any other type so that the ornamental portion of the necklace, which is removable, can be disposed at any desired position along the front or neckline of a wearer.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accomice panying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a elevational view of a necklace, illustrating in elevation an adjustment means, constructed in accordance with the present invention and structurally associated with the necklace in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a detailed, sectional view of the adjustment means in structural association with the side by side chain sections of a necklace;

FIGURE 3 is a rear elevational detailed view showing a means for attaching the ends of the single necklace chain to a support member onto which various decorative pieces of jewelry or adornments can be detachably secured;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of the arrangement of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a view in perspective showing the adjustment means in use in association with a necklace, which is shown in attachment to the neck of a wearer;

FIGURE 6 is a view in perspective of the necklace showing its state of physical conversion into a wrist encircling bracelet; and

FIGURE 7 is a rear perspective view of one of the decorative pieces or adornments which can be removably attached to the support member of the combination necklace and wristband of the present invention.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings and, initially to FIGURES 1 and 2, the necklace 10 is composed of a single long strand or chain 12, which may be formed in any suitable fashion from interconnected chain links 14-. The strands 12 are disposed in sideby-side relationship and have a closed looped end 16 and free end portions 18 and 20, as shown in FIGURE 3. By virtue of a supporting means 22, which will be described, the ends of the side-by-side strands or sections 12 are adapted to support an ornamental or decorative lavaliere, pendant or any similar article of adornment 24.

It can be appreciated that, apart from the attaching means 22, which will be described, the necklace 10, as it appears in FIGURE 1 is conventional in that it is composed or consists of the two side-by-side strands or sections of interconnected chain links having a closed looped end 16 which would fit behind the neck of a wearer with the article of jewelry or adornment 24 disposed in a hanging position at the front of the wearers neck.

However, an important object of the present invention is to provide means whereby the length of the necklace can be adjusted to suit the wearer, thereby rendering it very versatile, since it can be made long or short or can be of medium length. To realize this, an adjustment means 26 is provided, as shown more particularly in FIGURE 2. The adjustment means 26 comprises a very small, attractive and simple adjustment slide member 28, which is formed from a suitable sturdy but semi-rigid or flexible material, such as commercial plastics. The member 28 may be defined as including two side by side tubular portions 30 and 32 which are interconnected by bridging portion 34, which is flat. Each of the tubular, side-by-side sections or portions 30 and 32 is provided with an axial bore 36, which is of substantial ovoid cross-sectional shape throughout the major portion of its length 38, while having small, relatively speaking, openings 40 and 42 as introduction or entrance and exit or removal bores for the main ovoid bore 38. In other words, the side-by-side tubular portions 30 and 32 are formed with axial bores which have major central ovoid or oval portions 38 which, at their opposing ends, extend through the opposing ends of the tubular portions by virtue of the reduced, crosssectional area bores 40 and 42.

Stated another way, the adjustment member 28, which is formed from an inexpensive but durable plastic material, which possesses soime flexibility, is formed with sideby-side bores 38 having reduced openings 40 and 42 and which are adapted to receive the strands 12 at exactly opposite points, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, permitting the chain portions to fit snugly with enough friction to hold the chain portions in position and to fix the adjustment member 28 in a positive and secure position along the length or extent of the chain strands 12 wherever the wearer chooses to place such adjustment member 28.

As an example, attention is directed to FIGURE 5. As shown therein, the necklace is positioned on the neck N of a wearer W and the adjustment member 28 has been disposed so that the looped portion 16 hangs down behind the back of the neck of the wearer W, thereby disposing the ornamental piece 24 in a higher position than it would normally assume, if the looped portion 16 were to engage the back of the neck of the user. The rearwardly hanging portion 44 of the necklace can be inserted within the back of the Wearers dress, so that it will be concealed. On the other hand, it can be appreciated that the adjustment member 28 can be easily slid along the side-by-side chain sections 12 so that the ornamental piece 24 can be raised or lowered in connection with the neckline L of the article of apparel of the wearer.

With reference to FIGURES 3 and 4, the attachment means 22 for the ornamental object or article 24, which may be of any type, shape or appearance, includes a circular body portion 46, which has circumferentially disposed, outstanding lOops 48 that are adapted to receive the spring-type hook fasteners 50 and 52 carried by the free ends 18 and 20 of the chain strands or sections 12. The portion 46 has a central female snap fastener 54, which is adapted to receive, in a very tight friction manner, the male fastener 58 on the rear face 56 of the adornment 24. Once the male snap fastener portion 58 is fitted Within the female cooperative snap fastener portion 54, as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, the adornment is held tightly but can be manually \moved about the rotational axis of the snap fastener so as to dispose it into various adjusted rotative positions. But this must be done with a physical force and cannot be accidentally accomplished.

It can thus be seen that the adjustment means 26 enables the necklace to be adjusted in length so as to dispose the article of jewelry, adornment, lavaliere or any other similar pendant, locket or stone, at various positions with respect to the neck portion of the wearer W of the necklace 10, as exemplarily shown in FIGURE 5. By virtue of the specific attachment means 22, the specific adornment element 24 may be replaced and repositioned, that is, it may be moved, by physical and definite determinative force, about its axis of attachment so as to reposition it. This could be of importance, if the outer face 24a of the article 24 were so designed that the particular position it would occupy would be of importance, as can be well understood in the art.

With regard to FIGURE 6, the chain strands or sections 12 are wrapped around the wrist 60 of the arm 62 of a wearer and are held in position so as to dispose the ornamental device 24 on the wrist. This is, of course, by virtue of the adjustment means 26 and, in this respect, the

adjustment member 28 may he slid on the cooperative strands or sections 12 so as to lock them in a wrap around engagement of the wrist 60 or the arm 62, whereby the device 10 may be converted from a necklace into a wristband and that, without any elasticity, resilient means or anything of that nature, the device can be used as a bracelet which may be worn at the wrist or up higher on the arm and which will stay in the position at the wrist or at any point on the arm around which it is wrapped, This takes into account not only the desired positive positioning and placement of the device but also the size of the wrist or arm of the person, such as an adult or child, who would be utilizing the device.

It can thus be appreciated that avery simple but extremely attractive and inexpensive arrangement has been provided whereby acombination necklace and wristband can be realized from the same structure and whereby the adjustment of the necklace and the wristband can be accomplished in a very simple and effective and highly efiicient manner by virtue of a very simple and inexpensive adjustment means and whereby a replaceable article of adornment can be attached to a band or chain and held in a secure relationship therewith and yet can be adjusted into various positions, relative to its rotational manner of securement, that is, about its axis of attachment. Y

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. An article of jewelry comprising an elongated flexible link chain looped upon itself todefinea closed end and extending opposing leg portions terminating in terminal ends, a clip fastener element carried by each of said ends, an adornment element, a holder for said adornment element, said holder having opposing facial surfaces, interengaging trneans provided on one of said surfaces and carried by the adornment element for detachably fixing the adornment element to said holder so that the adornment element overlies said surface of the holder and conceals the holder from a frontal view, said holder having peripheral edge, a plurality of fastener eyes carrier by the edge of the holder and extending therefrom in spaced apart relationship and disposed substantially parallel to the said one surface of the holder, said clip fasteners being releasably attached to selected ones of the fastener eyes, said chain when its ends are attached to the holder having a looped portion from which the leg portions terminating in the ends extend and a slide adjustment member carried by the leg portions and interconnecting the'leg portions and being lockingly engageable with the links thereof so as to adjust the size of the looped portion, said adjustment member comprising a one piece semi-hard flexible element having side-by-side tubular bored sections interconnected by an integral cross bridging, said bored sections being substantially ovoid in cross section throughout the major portion of their length and having relatively small opposing ends constituting entrance bores for the bored major portions, said entrance ends fitting the links of said chain leg portions snugly with enough friction to fix the adjustment member in adjusted position on said chain.

References Cited UNITED STATES. PATENTS US. 01. X.R. 24-416; 63-3 I 

